Boston Red Sox, Koji Uehara agree to contract

Friday

Dec 7, 2012 at 6:00 AM

Reliever Koji Uehara has reached an agreement with the Red Sox, pending a physical. The 37-year-old right-hander spent the last two seasons with Texas. Rangers general manager Jon Daniels said yesterday that he had tried to re-sign him before Uehara decided to accept Boston’s offer.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Reliever Koji Uehara has reached an agreement with the Red Sox, pending a physical.

The 37-year-old right-hander spent the last two seasons with Texas. Rangers general manager Jon Daniels said yesterday that he had tried to re-sign him before Uehara decided to accept Boston’s offer.

“We would have liked to have him back,” Daniels said. “We made an offer early in the process.”

Uehara had a 1.75 ERA in 37 relief appearances last year, holding batters to a .160 average.

Earlier in the week, Texas agreed to an $8 million, two-year contract with Joakim Soria, who is coming back from elbow surgery.

“Once we signed Joakim, we held back from making other proposals to relievers right now, just till we know what’s going on with the rest of the club,” Daniels said. “It’s still an area that we need to continue to address, and that’s why we tried to do it a little on the cheaper side while we look at some of these other things.”

Meanwhile, the New York Yankees took a step toward filling their hole at third base yesterday by making a one-year, $12 million offer to free agent Kevin Youkilis.

A person with direct knowledge of the offer said that there was a good chance that Youkilis would take it, but that he also could consider two-year deals elsewhere. The Cleveland Indians are said to be interested in signing Youkilis as their first baseman and reuniting him with their new manager, Terry Francona, who managed Youkilis in Boston.

Youkilis was a three-time All-Star for the Red Sox, playing for their championship teams in 2004 and 2007 before a trade to the Chicago White Sox in June. He was in Boston yesterday for an event for his foundation, Youk’s Kids.

The Yankees have an opening at third base because Alex Rodriguez will undergo surgery soon on his left hip, a procedure expected to sideline him until June. The White Sox signed one Yankee target, Jeff Keppinger, to a three-year, $12 million deal Wednesday, while Eric Chavez, who backed up Rodriguez last season, signed with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Youkilis, who turns 34 in February, has won a Gold Glove at first base but played 111 games at third last season. He hit a career-low .235 with 19 homers and 60 RBIs between Boston and Chicago last season.

Another former Red Sox player, free agent first baseman James Loney, officially signed his $2 million, one-year contract with the Tampa Bay Rays.

The sides agreed on the deal earlier this week at the baseball winter meetings, pending a physical. Loney can make an additional $1 million in performance bonuses.

Tampa Bay is hoping the 28-year-old Loney can have a bounce-back year. He started last season with the Los Angeles Dodgers, then was traded to Boston in July as part of the deal for Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford and Josh Beckett.

Loney hit a combined .249 with six homers and 41 RBIs for the Dodgers and Red Sox. He had 90 RBIs in 2008 and 2009 and 88 RBIs in 2010 for Los Angeles, but his production has dropped since.

Carlos Peņa was Tampa Bay’s regular first baseman last season and hit only .197 with 19 homers and 61 RBIs.

But as teams headed home from the winter meetings yesterday, the biggest free agents were still on the market. The availability of slugger Josh Hamilton and pitcher Zack Greinke held up decisions on other signings and possible trades involving Rangers star Michael Young and the Mets’ Cy Young Award winner, R.A. Dickey.

Hamilton could remain with Texas, and Seattle seemed to be interested. Greinke’s options include staying with the Los Angeles Angels, moving up the coast to the Dodgers, or signing with the Rangers.

Mariners general manager Jack Zduriencik said that after taking in information from other clubs and agents, it was time to return home and “cool your jets.”

“There can be a domino effect,” he said. “I think when clubs are focusing on a certain position, a certain need, there’s options out there. And once one option goes away, then that changes the landscape of what a club would want to do. Everybody’s got their ducks lined up in a row, and it’s just a matter of how things fall. And there’s timing involved.”

The annual meeting wasn’t much of a swap session. The Phillies-Twins deal was just the fourth trade over the four days.

Atlanta announced a one-year deal with outfielder Reed Johnson. But the 25-foot wide dais with a podium backed by MLB logos was used just three times: Yankees general manager Brian Cashman discussed Alex Rodriguez’s hip injury, Major League Baseball announced an auction benefiting Stand Up to Cancer, and the Mets talked about David Wright’s $138 million, eight-year contract, which had been agreed to last week.

The Yankees have been quiet, watching as catcher Russell Martin agreed with Pittsburgh last week and backup third baseman Eric Chavez went to Arizona during the meetings. Wanting to get under the $189 million luxury tax threshold in 2014, the Yankees are being cautious. Still, Cashman maintained it hasn’t been a rough week for him.

“Because I don’t read the papers as much as I used to,” he said. “This year’s marketplace, it might be strong in terms of the dollars being thrown around, but I don’t think it’s a strong market in terms of the available talent.”

As the meetings ended, the Phillies were trying to obtain Young, the infielder who has been with the Rangers for his entire 13-season career and would have to approve a trade. Arizona was listening to offers for outfielder Justin Upton.

“It seems like when people leave the winter meetings, there’s a bit of a quiet period,” Red Sox GM Ben Cherington said. “People kind of get out of the frenzy, maybe take a step back and realize that maybe something they were talking about isn’t such a good idea. Sometimes things get close and never end up happening.”

For all the talk, the Dodgers have made only one big move since the end of the season, re-signing closer Brandon League. But they’ve been quite busy over 2012. After they were bought in May for $2 billion by a group headed by Mark Walter and Stan Kasten, Los Angeles added stars Hanley Ramirez, Gonzalez, Crawford and Beckett. The Dodgers face a Sunday deadline to reach a deal with South Korean pitcher Ryu Hyun-Jin, whose rights they gained for a $25.7 million bid.

Quite different from the days under the previous owner, Frank McCourt.

“You couldn’t get an agent to return a phone call,” Colletti said. “Now you’ve got them lined out the door.”

Texas GM Jon Daniels was popular, too, given his interest in Hamilton and Greinke, and talks involving Upton and a possible a multi-team trade.

“It just makes it tougher, more than two clubs,” he said, adding he had a variety of trade and free agent options. “There are a couple of big decisions that are going to impact the direction. We’ve narrowed it down, but there’s still a couple ways we can go. Some of that is up to us, and some of that is up to the guys on the other side of the table.”